The Minister acknowledged that government recognizes the challenges that face South Africa as a country, which include poverty, income and wealth inequality, unemployment and rural development. Minister Patel indicated that the deep global economic crisis affected South Africa, but one of the responses to this was the social pact by South Africa to respond to the crisis, which was developed by government, business, labour and communities. The Minister further elaborated that South Africa cannot isolate itself from the global economy and its location on the African continent.